Machinery for opening and cleaning cotton



(No Model.)

J.G. POTTER.

MACHINERY FOR OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON, &c.. N0. 345,255. PatentedJuly 6, 1886.

iii!!! I Unrrnn STATES PATENT @rrrca JAMES C. POTTER, OF LOlVELL,MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINERY FOR OPENING AND CLEANING COTTON, 84.0.

ii? ELQIFF CATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 345,255, dated July6, 1886.

Application filed March 16,1886. Serial No. 195.4 1 6. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES C. POTTER, 0 Lowell, in the State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful ImprovementsinMachinery for Opening and Cleaning Cotton and other Fibers, of which thefollowing is a specification. 7

My invention has reference to means for preventing the material operatedon by the beater or opening-cylinder from sticking to or gathering uponthe same, and for assisting the proper passage of the material throughthe machine; and it is an improvement upon the mechanism described andclaimed in Letters Patent No. 321,851, issued to my assignee, AthertonMachine Company, on July 7, 1885. In said patented machine the beaterhad a hollow perforated central shell and hollow supportirig-trunnions,and through the same passed a slotted air-supply pipe supported in endbearings in which it could be rotated or turned, so as to bring itsair-discharge slot toward or away from the feed end of the machine moreor less, as desired, with a view to modify and control the air supplyand discharge. Under my patented arrangement there is a considerableannular space separating the inside air-pipe from the outside per-'forated central shell. This arrangement, in practice, has been foundopen to objection, in that the ai r-suppl y is not under absolutecontrol, as it should be in order to produce the best results. The airescaping from the slotted pipe is free to fill the annular space betweenthe tube and outer shell, and is liable to be delivered from the latterin any and every direction, thus defeating, in a measure, the object inview, which is to compel the delivery of the air on the same side of thebeatershell as that on which the slot in the pipe is situated. In orderto correct this trouble, I so form or proportion the pipe relatively tothe shell that it fills the inside of the said shell as nearly as may bewithout running the risk of frictional contact between the two, and itis in this feature that my improvement consists. In the drawingsaccompanying this specification, Figure 1 is an elevation of so much ofa cotton-opener as needed for the purpose of illustrating myimprovement. Fig. 2 is a like view of the slotted air-pipe. Fig. 3 is acrosssection of the shell and tube contained therein.

The beater represented in the drawings pertains to a machine of the samegeneral type as that shown and described in Letters Patent No. 321,851,hereinbefore referred to, said beater having heads a, between whichextend rods b, to receive whippers, which, however, are nothere-illustrated, since they are unnec essary for the purposes of thisspecification. The hollow hubs or trunnions d of the beater aresupported in bearings e on the frame of the machine, (partof the framebeing represented in section.) Between the heads or ends of the beateris the central perforated hollow shell, g,whieh is of the same internaldiameter as the hollow trunnions or hubs (I, there being a continuousopening or passage through the trunnions and the shellindeed, thetrunnions may be cast in one with the shell, if desired; or, in otherwords, the two may consist of a single tube whose ends are supported inbearings, and whose central portion, or portion inclosed between theheads a, is perforated for the delivery of air. The air-supply pipe hpasses centrally through the trunnions d and perforated shell 9, and issupported at the ends by bracketbearings z. The handle for adjusting thepipe is shown atj. 7c is the setscrew for fastening the pipe in itsadjusted position. The pipe is of such size as to fill as nearly as maybe the interior of the shell and has a longitudinal slot, Z, throughwhich passes the air drawn in through the open end or ends of the pipe.Under this arrangement air passing from the pipe through the slot Zcannot escape into the body of the shell, so as to dischargeindiscriminately and simultaneously at various points around theperiphery of the latter; but when once the pipe is adjusted to bring itsslot to the point at which it is desired to effect the discharge of airinto the beater the air passing out from theslot will discharge throughthe perforated shell only at that point. In this way the supply of airmay be modified and controlled and its discharge in any particulardirection effected with almost absolute certainty.

WVhat I claim as new and of my own invention is IOO The describedimprovement upon the inshe11,as and forthe purposes shown andspecivention set forth in Letters Patent No. 321,851, fied. ID the sameconsisting of the combination, with In testimony whereof I have hereuntoset the beater provided with a hollow perforated my hand this 15th dayof March, 1886.

5 cylindrical central shell and hollow trnnnions, JAMES C. POTTER.

of the slotted adjustable air-supply pipe ex- \Vitnesses: tendingthrough said shell and trunnions, and A. T. ATHERTON, of a size to fillpractically the interior of the O. '1. ATHERTON.

